Stories, analysis, highlights, and everything Yankees from an up & coming sports journalist.

Results tagged ‘ The Big Bang Theory ’

The year was 1995. The place: Jackson, Mississippi. Having spent 10 hours on a bus, during which Sheldon Cooper had to twice violate his personal rule against relieving himself onboard a moving vehicle, Cooper finally arrived at the fourth annual Dixie Trek Convention – only to find that his idol, Wil Wheaton, decided he had better things to do than show up and sign his action figure.

Heartbreaking. But this of course is fiction; a yarn made for television’s hit show The Big Bang Theory.

Want to hear a true story?

The year was 2001. The place: Bronx, New York. Having spent an hour and 45 minutes on a bus with my eighth grade class (no need to relieve myself, if memory serves me correctly) I arrived at Yankee Stadium, excited to receive an Andy Pettitte bobblehead – a stadium giveaway.

The novelty bobblehead was to be given out to fans 14 and younger and I was at 13 years old at the time. As each of my classmates filed into the “House that Ruth Built” through the turnstiles, they were handed a Pettitte bobblehead. It came to be my turn and the distributor squadoosh’d my dreams.

“Sorry, this is for fans 14 and younger,” he told me, with an angered look on his face.

“But I’m 13! The rest of my class got one!” I pleaded.

He just shot me a look of disbelief, as if to say, “Yeah, right.”

Although I was in fact 13, the man refused to believe it. No bobblehead for me.

Looking back, Pettitte may have been behind this conspiracy. I can just picture him in the clubhouse before the game that day, joking around with his great buddy Roger Clemens.

“Yeah. Yeah this little punk A.J. Martelli is coming to the game today with his puny little friends. He thinks he’s getting my bobblehead. Well, HA! That’s not happening.”

Alright, I doubt Pettitte said that, but the rest of it is true. I was indeed denied a Pettitte bobblehead, and no, I have never fully recovered from it. In fact, around the holidays I got together with a number of my old classmates and one of them took a sort of poll.

“By a show of hands, who still has their Andy Pettitte bobblehead?”

I could only hang my head in eternal, burning shame as I reminded them of what transpired that fateful day.

Maybe this is just another reason I should be angry with Pettitte?

Nah. I’m not angry with him. Just disappointed.

This past weekend I wrote about my bemusement of Pettitte coming out of retirement, much to the chagrin and displeasure of my fellow Yankee fans. Many people criticized my viewpoint and strongly disagreed with my opinion on the subject.

And I respect that; everyone has the right to disagree with me.

But I ask that everyone consider and respect my opinion, no matter how strongly one can disagree with it.

Too many athletes are doing this; flip-flopping and weaving in and out of retirement. I am not a proponent of athletes flipping their careers on and off like light switches. When Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Brett Favre retired, he made himself the center of the sports world; everyone was talking about him, and rightfully so, he was ending a Hall of Fame-worthy career.

Or was he?

No, he wasn’t. After making a huge fuss about the conclusion of his playing career, he played two more seasons – and I hated that. I lost some respect for a longtime number one QB because of his actions.

Clemens was the same story, and even before the HGH/steroids information leaked, I lost respect for “The Rocket.” Either play the game, Clemens, or don’t.

Now, Pettitte has traveled down the same road of coming out of retirement after declaring he was, no matter what, done. Essentially he did the same thing Favre and Clemens did – which I didn’t like. I bashed Favre and Clemens for going back-and-forth.

Just because his name is Andy Pettitte, I’m supposed to be perfectly fine with it?

No. I think I would be a hypocrite if I was perfectly fine with it, seeing as how I reacted to Favre and Clemens.

A few days following the announcement of Pettitte’s comeback I was on Twitter. I received a tweet from my good friend Steve over at STATandSTUFF. Finally, someone saw eye-to-eye with me; understood where I’m coming from.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t even really considered his notion; he’s correct. Now younger arms like Michael Pineda, Ivan Nova, and Phil Hughes – who have all pitched very well this spring – may have to duke it out even harder for a rotation spot, because the possibility of Pettitte occupying a slot in the starting five is high. (Although in my last post I did note that the competition for a rotation spot became stiffer).

At least someone agreed with me.

To make things clear though, I am not attempting to wish any ill will on Pettitte. If he makes the team and goes on to have a standout 2012, good for him; more power to him. I can only hope that he does pitch well and dominates in the postseason, for the sake of the Yankees.

Yet, when I look at him from now on, there will be somewhat of a smudge next to his name – right next to his HGH admission. To me, he is in the same category of Favre and Clemens, and I know it makes me unpopular to think that way.

But I refuse to change my stance on the issue. That is, unless something were to happen…

I suppose I could erase any anger/resentment over Pettitte’s flip-flopping ways if:

For one, he personally delivered one of his bobbleheads to me, and apologized to me on behalf of himself and the Yankee organization.

That mishap back in ’01 was just plain wrong.

And secondly, I’d forgive him if he apologized for going back on his retirement. Pettitte made himself look bad, and if he recognizes that, I could easily forgive him and all would be forgotten.

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.